Every so often, my job takes me to neighboring towns. Being in northern Nevada, that almost always equals small towns. If I happen to be there around lunch time I like to pick a local deli or cafe at random and try to find a local newspaper to read while I eat. Its amazing how fast this makes me feel like the world just slammed on the brakes. There’s a sudden clarity about life. No one is worried about traffic, the only politics being discussed are local ones, and no one seems in a hurry to go anywhere.

Now I wouldn’t want to spend very much time in most of these places; I thoroughly enjoy living in a moderate sized city where there is easy access to amenities and usually always something going on. I would even begin to miss rush hour traffic after a bit. However, its… refreshing to pull out of that for short periods of time. It’s almost the same feeling I have after waking up from a really good nights sleep.

I never really realize how different a city can be from the small town U.S.A. type of place where I grew up. Spending just that small amount of time there immediately brings back the little differences; everyone knows everyone, the newspaper is full of articles about local high school students and extensive coverage of the smallest street repair, people randomly talk to you as if they’ve always known you. The same type of things exist in larger cities, but they get lost in everything else that is going on, and the scale of things change their meaning.

While there’s a long list of things I despise about small towns to go right along with this, I still enjoy feeling like I’ve dropped out of the rat race, even if just for a few hours.